Calling All Religions: Please Share Your Wisdom

reply to post by apushforenlightment


Thanks Apush, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

The % thing, a logical question. If the universe/multiverse functions this way, then I would at least like to think that there is no real % failure. It sounds a little cliche, but its possible that life is raw stimulation, with the experience, the emotions, all of it directly manifested in order to help us grow.

As hard as it may be to conceive, maybe the most unfathomable atrocities in the world are some how helpful to the souls to which they occur, and even those that perpetuate them. I know how cold that sounds, and I don't know a soul who would want to be one of them, but life has already proven to make almost no sense at all.

It would make sense if we live many, many lives, experiencing different types of stimuli until it has somehow been assimilated and we move on. As crazy as it may sound, it makes more sense to me than the way most religions see it. I mean, what does God do when earth's creatures have finally learned to stop brutalizing each other (I know, haha fat chance). Seriously though, when all of the children are brought up to heaven, what then?

Will there be another world beyond heaven? It doesn't seem like the nature of man can tolerate stillness, no matter how beautiful it may be...put a man on a beautiful island, or mountain, or whatever his dream world is. Surround him with a thousand beautiful women, give him eternal life. ETERNAL life... Allow him an unlimited supply of everything he loves; foods etc... he never gets fat, never ages...

Sooner or later, it may take a thousand years, maybe even 5 for the thick-headed :p, but sooner or later, it will become a hell. In fact, forget the Island, give him the entire world... I promise you, in time, the result would be the same.

I have a "gut" instinct, that says we just keep changing, growing, and developing, and that in and of itself seems like the meaning of life to me.

In short, the baby that dies at birth, the old man that lives to be 105, the wife lost in a car accident, the junkie on the corner, the hitlers and juntas crushing the innocent, EVERYONE is exactly whaere they should be.

Just a theory.

reply to post by smyleegrl


You are thinking.

What is a thought? Where does it come from? Where does it go to? What is inspiration?

John 1:1 King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

We look at things according to our own perspective. We size things by comparing them to other things. We value things by giving them importance.

We are so small on a cosmic scale and yet our ego's inflate our sense of worth. We assume we are the ultimate because we do not know the ultimate.

What was the big bang that can't be seen happening but theorized to have happened?

When you think a thought a chemical reaction takes place that fires a neuron within our brains and the chemical composition of that firing determines what kind of thought we had. If we are thinking and moved by Love we manifest emotion of Love. The same for hate, anger, frustration, anxiety, serenity - basically the full gamut of emotions are available to us.

In the beginning was the word (Love- the most powerful vibrational frequency) and the word was God (manifesting a chemical reaction leading to that neuron firing) and the word was with God ( God is the Creator)

Size is never relative. What is relative is the energy manifested and yet by our own rationalizing of existence we assume we are at our peak of existence because we exist. We have the potential to manifest and it is easy enough to prove. If I say something that imparts feelings of Love within you then you resonate Love. The same goes for all emotions.

Because we seek tangible and provable, we will never see that the big bang was a single thought within. It can be reproduced at will (not ours) and can also be erased at will (again not ours) but like the fable of the two wolves fighting, a good wolf and a bad wolf, who wins?

The one we feed.

The difference though is that we only see things from our perspective. God never allows the bad wolf victory even though both feed. While God guides the good wolf, the bad wolf is roaming free (free-will) and while that wolf has consumed all that it found willing to be fed upon, their is no limit to the Love God has in reserve for the good wolf.

People just don't know that it is always dinner time and many (read atheists) are on a hunger strike not knowing that they starve themselves. They feed by intent and that intent is to deny that there is both food and drink but both don't always mix. Only the right recipe is fulfilling.

And then there are people who want the bad wolf to win because they resent the good wolf never having to worry about sustenance.

"I think therefore I am"

hah!

We think therefore we aren't.

Accept that which you know in your heart resonates love and banish the thoughts of that which create doubt and confusion.

Only then can you truly be free of negativity and bad influence.

... and only then will you be granted the ability to discern the difference.
There is also a difference between loving oneself and loving all others. If you love others to make you feel good about yourself and feel loveable then all you are doing is superficial and God knows all hearts and minds.

Only one who would sacrifice them self for any/all is truly worth loving. If you only love because I compliment you then of what worth is my love when all should be complimented and not just those I liked? I don't mean compliment as in paying tribute, but in charging your essence

You are the spark that generates harmony or discord in the world around you. God is the spark that generated that possibility to manifest in the beginning.

Christ is the fuel and the boundary. Only by knowing can one be kindled.

... just a thought

reply to post by smyleegrl


hi smyleegrl,

'Does God Exist? How do you know?'

i love what your trying to achieve and this is a very good question and one i wish i could answer for you simply, you may have seen a post i made on your thread 'Is Western Society Deliberately Distracting Us From.....Something?' yesterday which has a few details, it would take me hours to explain how i found out the truth and how everything came together and made sense.

you sound like you genuinely want to know the truth too, i did too and i asked God to somehow show me the truth, it wasn't an overnight thing but when the truth did hit me it was like a smack in the face, just so obvious,

i'll try and think of a way to condense my story, but it won't be tonight as its getting a bit late

altough I was born in a muslim family, at the age of 18 I started with a doubt about God. finally I found what satisfied me. and you will find it if you are seeking the truth. GOD and JESUS are the common points of christianity, Judaism and Islam (I mean the real Ideology not what anti_christ media says to wage war between us) the essence of all of them is Monotheism.
existence of GOD is basic and simple! If you see a wheel of a vehicle you think that somebody may have built that, do not you? so how this amazing and complicated universe is built? just by chance? I have read the atheist philosophers book in the east and west, none of them believe in any chance. chance is a word to call what we can not perceive it's reasons.
It is so beautifull when you see the birth of a child, It is so complicated how the baby get shaped from just two mad cells. human is trying hardly to make simple tissues the same to use it in medical purposes. oh how weak we are!
if we are alone in the middle of sea and sinking and frightening, is not that just the only God which we call it to save us.
hey, me and you did not decide to get born, even we did not choose our family, not our shape, not our sex, not our genetics. most of us do not choose their death. we are so weak, just who can help us in our weakness. whom can we realy realy realy love and rely.
we can neither be fortunate nor unfortunate in this world. do you know why!? because we are all to die! how can we be fortunate or unfortunate, while we are waiting to get old and weaker and to die!? just where is the fortune and hope? certainly not in this world!

The question for me is: "Is there any reason to practice a religion, and does it matter which religion I choose, and how do I know which religion is right?"

I don't know what to think about it all.

reply to post by cloudyday

I do not to advertise any religion but we can read in Quran
"""Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve."""

and

"""Say: We believe in God and (in) that which had been revealed to us, and (in) that which was revealed to abraham and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the tribes, and (in) that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and (in) that which was given to the prophets from their Lord, we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit."""

so it is up to you to choose the best, the goal is humanity.

Originally posted by BS_Slayer
reply to post by apushforenlightment

 

Thanks Apush, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

The % thing, a logical question. If the universe/multiverse functions this way, then I would at least like to think that there is no real % failure. It sounds a little cliche, but its possible that life is raw stimulation, with the experience, the emotions, all of it directly manifested in order to help us grow.

As hard as it may be to conceive, maybe the most unfathomable atrocities in the world are some how helpful to the souls to which they occur, and even those that perpetuate them. I know how cold that sounds, and I don't know a soul who would want to be one of them, but life has already proven to make almost no sense at all.

It would make sense if we live many, many lives, experiencing different types of stimuli until it has somehow been assimilated and we move on. As crazy as it may sound, it makes more sense to me than the way most religions see it. I mean, what does God do when earth's creatures have finally learned to stop brutalizing each other (I know, haha fat chance). Seriously though, when all of the children are brought up to heaven, what then?

Will there be another world beyond heaven? It doesn't seem like the nature of man can tolerate stillness, no matter how beautiful it may be...put a man on a beautiful island, or mountain, or whatever his dream world is. Surround him with a thousand beautiful women, give him eternal life. ETERNAL life... Allow him an unlimited supply of everything he loves; foods etc... he never gets fat, never ages...

Sooner or later, it may take a thousand years, maybe even 5 for the thick-headed :p, but sooner or later, it will become a hell. In fact, forget the Island, give him the entire world... I promise you, in time, the result would be the same.

I have a "gut" instinct, that says we just keep changing, growing, and developing, and that in and of itself seems like the meaning of life to me.

In short, the baby that dies at birth, the old man that lives to be 105, the wife lost in a car accident, the junkie on the corner, the hitlers and juntas crushing the innocent, EVERYONE is exactly whaere they should be.

Just a theory.

edit on 21-6-2012 by BS_Slayer because: One final line...

Since I have seen my own kind of proof of that I do agree with EVERYONE is exactly where they should be. And I do not mean they fail the test for always. Im just wondering how many roughly come thru this school. The amount of soul that is supposed to get thru evolution here is probably extreamly higher than we realise so there will not be any problem with souls wanting to come here from my point of view. But this place have gotten to much technology and knowledge so it have to be a university grade school and not a lower level school anymore from my point of view. This is so that the school works and do not destroy itself and ouside influence do not need to maintain it so much. I know humans here sometimes need to feel special and think humanity is the end all perfection. That is just ego talking and maybe we are just one school of billions evolving souls at this moment. I really do not have much over for religous views when they play around with duality and ego qounter to what they are supposed to be about from my point of view. But look at both Jesus and Buddha. If anyone belive they are enemies against each other then there is a problem with the persons understanding yhe message of Jesus and Buddha.

Just one more point. Sometimes you really screw up and have to work hard to go back. But there is no real hurry is there? Sometimes you go back sometimes you go forward. But in the end you always end up home. But sitting under a tree in the sun for a 1000 years in bliss harmony playing around with chi and just resting seems like a nice idea right now after a human life.

Above is just my view. If it does not fit ignore it.

Originally posted by cloudyday
The question for me is: "Is there any reason to practice a religion, and does it matter which religion I choose, and how do I know which religion is right?"

I don't know what to think about it all.

edit on 21-6-2012 by cloudyday because: (no reason given)

Doctrines and views are created by human ego not by god. Find within and make up your own way within reason for the people around you. If Christ is answering the buddha have also answered and of course the whole also (god). At that point in evolution everything is as ONE anyway so who cares who of them that answers. Who can be sure Jesus have not been sent out on another mission while people here just asks for him. hahahahahah. But the Christian will say but I only want Jesus. Think of the other souls that have served longer than Jesus and works everyday for your understanding that shakes his head and thinks. So I am not good enought . Crazy humans . So lets see. Time to put on the Jesus shape was it. -Here I am. -Im Jesus your saviour (real name is Phil but who cares).

Again just my imagination.

Originally posted by maes9
reply to post by cloudyday

 

I do not to advertise any religion but we can read in Quran
"""Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve."""

and

"""Say: We believe in God and (in) that which had been revealed to us, and (in) that which was revealed to abraham and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the tribes, and (in) that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and (in) that which was given to the prophets from their Lord, we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit."""

so it is up to you to choose the best, the goal is humanity.

Lovely post. Now get the hindus, buddhist and new agers in the mix also and we will have a real party .

reply to post by apushforenlightment

hey man this is about monotheism not Idolatry and superstitions. a factory makes a machine then produces a guidance for it, then human with this complexity does not need any guidance. indeed human has intelligence but not to perceive the metaphysics completely. if it was not because of prophets all of us were Idolatry and deify (stones, sun, ourselves, sex, money, ...). I insist that human should think because wisdom is a natural prophet. and I insist that religions are not that pure that we think. because wrong clerics and even politicians are misusing them. but human has a built in prophet to use it and to find the truth and the best way.

reply to post by smyleegrl

Firstly, do a little study on the net about "Sacred Geometry" and The Golden Ratio" .
That will help you understand what follows.

O.K. here's what I found out for myself:
"The Golden Ratio" gives us the following anagrams:

I'd let a throne go

And I got the role

The "One God" trail

The "God One" trial

Tho God, tree nail

The God nail tore

O the legion dart

The Latin gored

Digging a little deeper I found that an anagram for "The path to enlightenment" is:
"NOTE PHI LENGTH MATH TENET" (PHI is the Golden Ratio!)

And of course If one were to anagram "Ask and you shall receive"
One would get: "A Heavenly Lord cues; I ask!"

And soooo much more! Weeeee! so much fun!
Hoooray for Easter Eggs!

Originally posted by smyleegrl
Greetings, ATS!

I want to know if God exists. It is, in my opinion, the most important question I can ask and I’ve sought the answer for over twenty-five years now.

Okay, long story short. I was raised Baptist and have since lost my faith. I no longer know if God exists and if so….what God’s nature might be.

So what I’d like to do is explore the idea of God from multiple religious beliefs. I plan to make a series of threads that piggyback off each other. The first thread (this one) will deal with the existence of God. The next will focus on God’s nature, with more to follow.

Some ground rules for this thread. You may not argue from religious texts. Why? I want to avoid that mindless cliché of “The Bible Said It, I Believe It, and That Settles It.” In a later thread we will explore religious texts, but for now all argument must make do without.

You may share anecdotal information, including personal feelings and experiences, hunches and intuitions. They must be personal, though…not a friend of a cousin’s third wife’s sister stories.

Lastly, please treat those of differing faiths with decorum and respect. I will report any threads that insult other religions or other viewpoints.

So...our question for today:

Does God Exist? How do you know?

Is this only for "believers" or can non-believers cite their reasoning why they think there is no god?

Just let me know.

Originally posted by RavenSpeaks
reply to post by smyleegrl

 

Firstly, do a little study on the net about "Sacred Geometry" and The Golden Ratio" .
That will help you understand what follows.

O.K. here's what I found out for myself:
"The Golden Ratio" gives us the following anagrams:

I'd let a throne go

And I got the role

The "One God" trail

The "God One" trial

Tho God, tree nail

The God nail tore

O the legion dart

The Latin gored

Digging a little deeper I found that an anagram for "The path to enlightenment" is:
"NOTE PHI LENGTH MATH TENET" (PHI is the Golden Ratio!)

And of course If one were to anagram "Ask and you shall receive"
One would get: "A Heavenly Lord cues; I ask!"

And soooo much more! Weeeee! so much fun!
Hoooray for Easter Eggs!

While this is admittedly super-cool...what does this really illustrate. The Golden Ratio also produces the anagram "God Eaten Hitlor" and "God Ethanol Re It". With a little imagination, these could easily be construed to be illustrative of some sort of encoded instructions to be cannibalistic Nazi's as well as the God's preference for renewable energy and flex-fuel vehicles.

I've always sat on the fence about God, I believe something exists. I have had personal experiences, that validated something special for me regaurding heaven.

In 2002 my aunt passed away of cancer, she was a very nice woman, always smiling, very cheerful. It shocked our family because she passed within 3months of being diagnosed and was only 52. One night after she passed, I was lucid dreaming, in this dream my room was identical to it normally was. I was awakened by an angry woman near my window, and a angry male who was stuck half way through my floor. They told me they been in my room for 2 days screaming at me to help them, but I ignored them. They wanted help because they couldn't move from that spot. Just as they spoke, my aunt walked in. She motioned for the three of us to follow her, we walked out my door into a very beautiful place. The two others ran off, but my aunt talked with me. She told me this was our home, and that she lived in a marble mansion by a river. After I hugged her and cried, she said "in heaven we have many mansions" and she disappeared, I was back in my room sitting upright, with tears, wide awake.

A couple years later, I finally picked up a bible, and found that statement. I'm not religious, I have no clue what is out there, but this experience was profound. If there is a God, he allowed me to have one last experience with someone I love, and that meant the world to me.

I expect to be bashed by someone for bringing this up.

For me, life is an experience. A learning experience. It's not a destination, or a race.
Live. Love. Be happy.

I was given perfunctory 'prayers' to say when I was little. No real religious teaching there at all. Just a way for me to focus my good feelings and intent. Be good, and think nice things was basically what I was doing.

My mother went on to be the president of a Spiritualist 'church' and was not a Christian. Towards the end of her life she would say, "God is good..."
I didn't understand.
How could someone without Christian faith (I should say 'belief in a deity') be saying something like that. Eventually it dawned on me that she was being quite literal. God is good. Good. Be good.

It's pretty easy. No need for the religious version of "good." It comes from inside. No religion has it all right. No religion has it all wrong. There's something in there for everyone. The Christians certainly don't have the monopoly on morals as some claim.

Be good. Be nice to people when you can. Be kind. Be gentle. Love. Have some manners. Don't be cruel. Don't lie. Be true to yourself.
Pretty simple so far?

For me "God" was something that flitted into and out of my life. It was something used as a learning experience.
But learning experiences are fleeting. If I were to tell you, "Don't play with fire or you'll get burned." You'd have a learning experience. You'd probably still play with fire. Then you'd get burned, and realise what I meant. Lesson learned. Move on.

If I said, "Don't play with fire or you'll get burned." every day to you for the rest of your life, the learning would become mundane and meaningless. You'd start to resent it. The lesson would have little meaning to you.
The lesson was important enough for you to grow as an individual, but once learned it loses a lot of its power. You grow. You move on with life.

So "God" may have played a role in your life, but is it the absolute meaning of your life? Of course it isn't.
Good is. I'm not trying to convince you towards atheism, but simply showing you that life can be rewarding, full, joyous, and loving without the need for a deity.

You don't need to believe in a figurehead. You have everything you need inside you.
You try to be good.
No religion can give that to you by giving you rules to follow, and anecdotal stories from the bronze age.
You have good inside you. It's not supernatural. It's not Holy. It's not religious. It's you.
It wasn't put there by a religion. It wasn't put there by a deity. It was always there.
Your 'relationship' with your God was just a conduit by which you discovered the good in you.

Go and be good.

I have some evidence that shows Monotheistic religions are from the same source and nature.

Bible Deuteronomy 33:2 (New International Version, ©2011)
""" He said:The LORD came from Sinai""" there is a consensus that it is about Moses
""""and dawned over them from Seir;""" I say this is about Jesus (although jews leaders may not compeletly agree)
""" he shone forth from Mount Paran(mountains around Mecca).He came with[a] myriads(ten thousands) of holy ones from the south, from his mountain slopes.""" whom do you think the last refers to!? (although christians and jews leaders do not agree)

Quran:The family of imran (64)
""" Say: O followers of the Book(christians and jews)! come to an equitable proposition between us and you that we shall not serve any but God and (that) we shall not associate aught with Him, and (that) some of us shall not take others for lords besides God; but if they turn back, then say: Bear witness that to Him do we submit(the meaning of Islam)"""

and the great evidence is our wisdom and humanity.
this is Monotheism not Masonism not satanism. do you think the real Masons say we are atheist, certainly no. they stick to their wrong Judaism and christianity and Islam to deceive me and you. to misuse religions.
what do you think that Saudies(radical islamists mother of binladen) and Israel government(the wrong jews) and USA government(the wrong christians) are all allies of eachother!? to kill innocents and to cover the truth. if this is not the anti_christ hidden empire that misuses religions, so what the hell is it!?

reply to post by maes9


antichrist cannot b the world when the christ is an individual living above it, stupid opportunist
antichrist must b an absolute powerful freedom like satanic powers which can break through true freedom sources

that is why, miss hypocrit, in the bible it is clearly said that the antichrist is who proclaim being the christ

so ur style supporting ur boss jesus in his boss king of satans ones which bring it back to u again n ur spiritual kind of heads life unphysical nature

Originally posted by maes9
reply to post by apushforenlightment

 

hey man this is about monotheism not Idolatry and superstitions. a factory makes a machine then produces a guidance for it, then human with this complexity does not need any guidance. indeed human has intelligence but not to perceive the metaphysics completely. if it was not because of prophets all of us were Idolatry and deify (stones, sun, ourselves, sex, money, ...). I insist that human should think because wisdom is a natural prophet. and I insist that religions are not that pure that we think. because wrong clerics and even politicians are misusing them. but human has a built in prophet to use it and to find the truth and the best way.

edit on 21-6-2012 by maes9 because: nothing important

After a while religons only become a pointer towards something more. But you have to think to be able to dissregard the pointers that lead in the wrong dirrection. The bible should be read with a critical mind from my point of view to get the most of it. There is nothing wrong from my point of view to praise nature/universe. It is an increadable system and very beautiful especially the mathematics/logic behind it is stunning. I love myself but I also make sure my love for myself do not hurt others. Sex is a part of human life and what is right and wrong are just different views as long as it is not hurting anyone spiritually including yourself. I am myself a bit on the Hermit side with abstinance and that is ok for me but others will choose another path and that is for them. Money are for me part of a powerpyramid of ego (and unequalness) and there is no real good comming out of that structure and the higher it gets the more unstable it becomes. Tower of Babel?

Originally posted by Badgered1
For me, life is an experience. A learning experience. It's not a destination, or a race.
Live. Love. Be happy.

I was given perfunctory 'prayers' to say when I was little. No real religious teaching there at all. Just a way for me to focus my good feelings and intent. Be good, and think nice things was basically what I was doing.

My mother went on to be the president of a Spiritualist 'church' and was not a Christian. Towards the end of her life she would say, "God is good..."
I didn't understand.
How could someone without Christian faith (I should say 'belief in a deity') be saying something like that. Eventually it dawned on me that she was being quite literal. God is good. Good. Be good.

It's pretty easy. No need for the religious version of "good." It comes from inside. No religion has it all right. No religion has it all wrong. There's something in there for everyone. The Christians certainly don't have the monopoly on morals as some claim.

Be good. Be nice to people when you can. Be kind. Be gentle. Love. Have some manners. Don't be cruel. Don't lie. Be true to yourself.
Pretty simple so far?

For me "God" was something that flitted into and out of my life. It was something used as a learning experience.
But learning experiences are fleeting. If I were to tell you, "Don't play with fire or you'll get burned." You'd have a learning experience. You'd probably still play with fire. Then you'd get burned, and realise what I meant. Lesson learned. Move on.

If I said, "Don't play with fire or you'll get burned." every day to you for the rest of your life, the learning would become mundane and meaningless. You'd start to resent it. The lesson would have little meaning to you.
The lesson was important enough for you to grow as an individual, but once learned it loses a lot of its power. You grow. You move on with life.

So "God" may have played a role in your life, but is it the absolute meaning of your life? Of course it isn't.
Good is. I'm not trying to convince you towards atheism, but simply showing you that life can be rewarding, full, joyous, and loving without the need for a deity.

You don't need to believe in a figurehead. You have everything you need inside you.
You try to be good.
No religion can give that to you by giving you rules to follow, and anecdotal stories from the bronze age.
You have good inside you. It's not supernatural. It's not Holy. It's not religious. It's you.
It wasn't put there by a religion. It wasn't put there by a deity. It was always there.
Your 'relationship' with your God was just a conduit by which you discovered the good in you.

Go and be good.

I would say I agree with everything but not the end. The temple within is Holy but not religous and it can be very supernatural. From my point you can see yourself as more than one you. There is the spirit that pushes your mind and the mind/ego that pushes the body. In you unconcious is your spirit and a "power switch" that can be turned on to connect to more senses.

A body with opened chakras is an wonderful hardware to use to feel things. The amount of of feeling is overwheling in a way. And the body becomes so relaxed. Sometimes I lay for a couple of hours and just feel my body being so alive as it makes small movements by itself.

Maybe this is what you feel from birth but I did not have it.

Originally posted by smyleegrl
My own two cents:

I don't believe in the Christian God per say. Too anthropormorphic, as others have stated.

Here's something I've always wondered about. When your body needs a certain vitamin, for example, you begin to crave a type of food with that vitamin. When your body is thirsty, you crave water.

So if something inside of me craves, for lack of a better word, God...doesn't that imply that God exists?

If a person doesn't believe in an active, caring God then it might be like riding in the back of the car with nobody in the driver's seat. That can cause a lot of stress.